Up-to-the-minute advice, information, resources, and, on occasion, commentary on federal and New Jersey state income taxes, and the various New Jersey property tax rebate programs, and insights and observations on tax policy and professional tax practice, by 40-year veteran tax professional Robert D Flach.

The distinction had
meaning for me in the will of a recently deceased uncle.

* Another “blast
from the past” from GETTING YOUR FINANCIAL DUCKS IN A ROW, this one by Sterling
Raskie, discusses the “alphabet soup” of financial planners (as I discuss the
“Alphabet Soup” of tax preparation at FINDING A TAX PROFESSIONAL).The post is titled “A Note About Designations”.

You will note that
Sterling correctly says (highlight is mine) “CPAs may be qualified to
prepare tax returns” and not that they are
qualified to prepare tax returns.That
“may” is very important to note.Thanks
to Sterling for getting it right.

“Jersey Shore TV star Mike “The Situation”
Sorrentino and his brother Marc were supposed to go on trial for tax evasion
and fraud on December 2nd. But the judge has granted Marc’s request to delay
the trial until March 2015. The case involves voluminous records, and this
gives both of the Sorrentino brothers more time. They are free on $250,000 bail.”

If only “The
Situation” had spent as much time developing his brain as he did his body.But then if he had he would have never
appeared on a reality tv piece of excrement.

“Extenders
as extortion. The administration
yesterday complicated the negotiations on the extension of the perpetually-expiring
tax provisions by demanding an extension of the refundable child credit and a
permanent expansion of the fraud-ridden earned income tax credit, the New York
Times reports.

It’s obnoxious to throw a new welfare program into the
extender negotiations at this late date, but a lame-duck administration that
will never again face the voters has nothing to lose. While I still think the
$500,000 Section 179 deduction will be extended retroactively to January 1,
this makes me a lot more nervous.

If anything good comes of this extortion attempt, it’s
that it highlights the unwisdom of passing tax provisions temporarily if you
don’t really want them to be temporary. Every time you need to re-enact them,
you open yourself up to just this sort of shakedown.”

Right on, my
brother!

We must also
recognize and acknowledge the “unwisdom” of refundable tax credits and
distributing welfare benefits through the Tax Code.

* And Joe also
provides some excellent advice in another item in the same Roundup (highlight
is mine) –

“Wait for your W-2 before filing. Don’t try
to file off of your pay stub. And if
your preparer offers to prepare a return without waiting for your W-2, find
another preparer.”

“TIGTA's report is the third in a series of
audits it has conducted since 2010 that have documented alarming growth in
prisoner tax refund fraud. The number of
fraudulent tax returns filed using a prisoner's Social Security Number that
were identified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) increased from
approximately 37,000 tax returns in Calendar Year 2007 to more than 137,000 tax
returns in Calendar Year 2012. The refunds claimed on these tax returns
increased from $166 million to $1 billion.

Reports issued by TIGTA in December 2010 and December
2012 identified concerns with the IRS's efforts to identify and prevent
prisoner tax fraud. The objective of TIGTA's latest audit was to evaluate the
effectiveness of corrective actions the IRS has taken to address conditions
identified in a prior TIGTA review of prisoner tax fraud.

‘Since TIGTA first began documenting this fraudulent
activity four years ago, refund fraud committed by prisoners has grown to
become a billion dollar problem,’ said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration. ‘While the IRS has agreed with four of our six
recommendations, more needs to be done, as is explained in our report. It is
incumbent upon the IRS to act aggressively to prevent tax fraud wherever it
occurs, particularly behind bars.’”

“Continuing cuts to the Internal Revenue
Service budget could have deleterious long-term effects on the agency's
knowledge transfer, according to one IRS official.”

On the short-term
front –

“National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson also
is worried about a bumpy 2015 filing season. Her main concern, however, is the
problem that budget cuts have caused in the customer service area.

Both individual filers calling the IRS for help filling
out their forms, as well as tax professionals looking for guidance on their
clients' returns could see even longer wait times, warned Olson.”

* Russ Fox has
already seen firsthand “tax professionals
looking for guidance on their clients' returns could see even longer wait times”,
and shares his recent experience with us in “One Ringy Dingy, Two Ringy Dingies…” at TAXABLE TALK (highlight is mine) –

“I was on hold for two hours today on the IRS Practitioner Priority Service before my
call was picked up.”

THE FINAL WORD-

A man asks his wife
what she wants for Christmas. Her reply = A divorce?

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AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!

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Donald T Rump has not done a single thing that anyone with intelligence would consider “appropriate” or “acceptable” for a President since deciding to run for office.

Every single day Trump provides more proof that he is an ignorant, self-absorbed, unfit, mentally unstable idiot, and a deplorable and despicable human being, who must be removed from office ASAP.

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